The hypotenuse of a right triangle is 8 inches longer than the shorter leg. The longer leg is 4 inches longer than teh shorter leg. Find the length of the shorter leg.

Solution:

The shorter leg: x

The longer leg:  x+4

The hypotenuse: x+8

so

x^2 +(x+4)^2 = (x+8)^2

so

x= 12

so the length of the shorter leg is 12 inches.